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International Fanworks Day is coming up on February 15. To mark the occasion, the OTW called for submissions on "What Fanworks Mean to Me." We are thrilled with the responses we have received, and we would like to thank everyone who submitted! Below are some of the responses we received.

For those of you who missed our challenge, we’d like to start a conversation on how fanworks are part of your life. For example:

What devices do you usually use to access fanworks? And when do you enjoy them?

How do you save fanworks to find again? Do you recommend them to others?

What are your favourite tropes to browse? What are your favourite fandoms to browse?

Do you prefer one type of fanwork (art, fic, vid etc)? What makes this your favourite?

Leave your comments here or drop in at our social media to tell us more!

What Fanworks Mean to Me

Mary-Catherine Berger, via e-mail

Fanworks to me, really mean a lot. Fanworks, and the community that has evolved around them, has opened me up to a whole new world of acceptance and love. I've learned a lot in just this past year about writing. I've been challenged in so many ways by myself, as well as by my fellow fanwork creators. The amazing creations that my fellow fans have created have opened my eyes to the amazing depths of exploration and creation that I hadn't been exposed to before. Fanworks mean acceptance, love, devotion, talent, dedication, and a million other things that have brought positivity and joy to my life.

I think the main reason it’s my dream to work on character and concept design is bc of how special it is to me to find characters I id with, I wanna be a part of making that experience for someone else to like….give back what I’ve received if that makes sense. I know id with characters in fanworks more than I do with their actual canon characterization, but I think that’s even more reason why I wanna create the characters like the ones I’ve grown to love and see myself in.

goldfinchex, via Twitter

in terms of writing it's both practice and expression, as well as translating thoughts to paper to ground myself in my present but at the same time make something that's entirely personal and imaginary a shared commodity.

Shyla Ramos, via Twitter

#WhatFanworksMeanToMe it allows me to get my ideas out and gets people to read and enjoy what I write.